Displacing power from the dance floor : a postcolonial gendered reading of Mark 6:14-29

Abstract

The study rereads the narrative of Mark 6:14-29 from Homi Bhabha’s postcolonial theory of mimicry and ambivalence. Unlike other interpretations that focus on the death of John the Baptist by Herod, the focal point of this study is the daughter who danced during Herod’s banquet. By taking account of the female body that is culturally represented as the inferior gender, and the use of status to determine power, the text is interpreted through the lenses of gender theory and the social-scientific model of honour and shame. By observing the unequal power structures and the suppression of female bodies, the study indicates that the daughter, through her dance, gained agency, reconstructed her identity, and displaced power on a dance floor. Instead of being a sexual male gaze, she became a negotiator to Herod.